Tired of those boring-ass Photoshopped floating head jobs that flaccid studio marketing departments call posters? So are we, which is why we've singled out the most distinguished, eye-catching promotional pieces to come out this year.

Taking the old-fashioned hand-painted approach always stands out, but sometimes all it takes is using photography in an interesting, innovative way to get some really challenging stories across in a single image.

Here are the absolute best general release or alternate posters of 2012.